Friday, August 7, 2009

USCIS has received significant funding for a substantially increased volume of random site visits to employer petitioners. Over the coming year, many thousands more employers will be visited by USCIS, often unannounced.

FDNS (Office of Fraud Detection and National Security) visits are to verify the existence of the employer, discuss the information that the employer has provided to USCIS in their petition(s) and whether the foreign national is working in accordance with the terms of their admission to the USA. Sometimes the visits relate to an approved petition, and sometimes they are used to check information in a pending petition.

Officers commonly ask about the employer’s business; the worksite; the number of employees; whether the employer filed the immigration petition in question; whether the foreign national is actually employed by the employer; the foreign national’s position, job duties and salary; and the foreign national’s qualifications for the position, educational background, previous employment and immigration history, residence and dependents in the United States. Typically, the FDNS officer will want to talk to the HR representative and perhaps also the foreign national.

If you are contacted about an upcoming site visit, please contact your immigration attorney immediately. If you receive an unannounced site visit - please contact us as soon as possible afterwards to discuss. In either situation, it is important to cooperate with the CIS representative as far as possible